This comes up every few years for different reasons. This time it’s for a supposed racist incident on campus.
The College Fix reports:
Talk of removing UW-Madison’s Lincoln statue reignites amid racial tensions on campusTalk of removing an iconic Abraham Lincoln statue at University of Wisconsin Madison has reignited recently in the wake of racial unrest on campus.The tensions unfolded in recent weeks due to a 25-second video posted on social media at the beginning of May that featured a female blonde white student’s racist ramblings, prompting major student protests and demands for change.The College Fix reached out to the student for comment, but has not received a response.At a May 3 student government forum held to focus on the concerns and controversy, an “action item students requested” included the “removal of racist memorabilia on campus,” such as the Lincoln statue, according to a Badger Herald editorial.“The Abraham Lincoln statue on Bascom has been the subject of controversy over the past few years — not only for Lincoln’s ethically questionable political history, but for the origins of the statue itself, which was largely funded by Richard Lloyd Jones, a known racist and journalist,” the May 10 editorial stated.“The unfettered admiration of Lincoln is disappointing when the names of Black leaders during the Civil War — such as Abraham Galloway, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler and Robert Smalls — have been forgotten or overshadowed,” the editorial added.The Lincoln statue is no stranger to controversy.In 2020, student activists marched on the university’s Bascom Hill to enforce their BIPOC demands, of which removing the prominent statue of Lincoln was the top action item. Then-Chancellor Rebecca Blank refused to take such an action, and her successor Jennifer Mnookin has since declined to comment on her stance on the campus fixture.
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